Blackhawks Lose To Ducks, Stan Bowman Now On The Clock

The Blackhawks lost another lackluster game in Anaheim on Sunday night, and with the NHL trade deadline at 2 pm CT on Monday, fans in Chicago will now stare at Stan Bowman to do something (anything) to spark a lifeless roster.

Just a few thoughts from Sunday night’s affair in Anaheim.

First of all, it was nice to see the Blackhawks finally convert a power play. For the first time in a month, Patrick Kane scored while the Hawks had an extra man on the ice to give Chicago the lead. There appeared to be some emotion from the Blackhawks at that point.

But when Toronto ruled that they only needed to have a pretty good idea that Andrew Cogliano probably made contact with somewhere close to the puck with his stick (but didn’t have to actually see it), and allowed a game-tying goal with under a minute left in the period, the life was sucked out of the Hawks.

And it never returned.

Chicago put 19 shots on net in the game, nine of which were in the final 40 minutes. They didn’t put any pressure on the Ducks in the third period, and accepted their third loss in a row.

The time has come for Stan Bowman to make critical decisions with what he wants and expects from the 2011-12 roster.

If he thinks this roster has the good to win the Cup, he needs to do something bold to make it work.

If he, like most of the rest of us, think this team is a six seed at best in the Western Conference, and acknowledges that there has been no consistency from the team this year (except for failing on the power play), he should get what he can for the veterans leaving in July and begin taking stock what he’s got in players like Jeremy Morin, Brandon Pirri and even Ryan Stanton is worth to the future of the organization.

41 thoughts on “Blackhawks Lose To Ducks, Stan Bowman Now On The Clock”

After spending countless hours watching, analyzing, discussing the Hawks and trying to cure indigestion, depression, diarrhea and other ailments as a result of the former I finally came to simple conclusion.
We don’t have the players to compete with the western conference and beyond or the coaching staff can’t get the best out of the available players. Regardless of the conclusion bringing in one or two new faces won’t fix the problem.
In my humble opinion Q+ the stooges lost this team.
See you next year.

The latter, please, please, the latter. Barring something surprising out of left field, we need too much for what’s available in this market – let’s take stock of what we’ve got viz. prospects and start thinking about next year.

Hawks fans- I am angry about this game. Talk me off the ledge or join me. First off that first goal by Anaheim was total BS. Cogliano kicked it intentionally and then swung his stick at the pads of emery. The key here is the the ref on the ice WAIVED IT OFF as a kick. You need irrefutable evidence to overturn that and there isn’t any. No video angle showed the stick hitting the puck. The league assumes it was hit by the stick because of the physics of the pucks movement or that it was stopped by emery and then accelerated after that. And then Jonesy(who I like as a commentator) cites Emery’s reaction as proof of a legit goal. GIVE ME A BREAK. It could have been redirected in by the inside of Emery’s leg. The video did not show the stick hitting the puck thats should be it with a no goal call on the ice. No goal because insufficient evidence to overturn the call. If the call on the ice was good goal then it would have stood but it was waived off. Then I have to watch Cogliano sitting over there like the cat who just swallowed the canary. I knew at that point when they handed them that goal at the end of the period the game was over. Next, Selanne(who they praised constantly) chicken armed that stick and took a dive to generate the 5 on 3. So another BS call leading to their goal. Lastly, the anheim player put a stick in emery’s neck after the whistle and it ends of 4 on 4. What? We should have had a power play there. Another bad call against us. Then the fact that emery had to start the fight was an embarrasment as someone else just blogged. Without Toews right now we can’t take that string of bad calls. I hate to complain about the calls but come on. This game should have went to overtime and we should have received at least one point. Anyone with me on this stuff or am I being a baby and the hawks deserved to lose.

It will be interesting to see what, if anything, Bowman does before the trade deadline.

He was forced to dismantle the Stanley Cup team but has failed to bring in any players who have made an impact on this year’s team. I gave him a pass on last year, dealing with the salary cap situation, but this was the year he could have put his stamp on this team and he has failed.

We keep hearing that this is a results business, and for me, Bowman has not shown us any results with the moves he has made. Even if there is a trade before tomorrow’s deadline, it may be too late. Something should have been done long ago with this team.

At the beginning of this year, he attempted to bring more “grit” to the team, more “sandpaper”, but the only thing I see is players avoiding contact and hoping “stick work” along the boards will get the job done. We are an easy team to play against and when another team takes it too us physically, we don’t respond. Too many guys sitting on fat paychecks and not enough hunger on this team.

I’ll always be hopeful that this bunch can turn it around, but it doesn’t look good.

Easy Pete……..don’t jump!! It’s not worth it!! Pete, listen to me. Let’s remember one thing………good teams overcome adversity. We’re not a good team, right now. The call on the ice was correct, however, my guess is that Toronto had a view that we didn’t have on T.V.

We turned the puck over three times on that play in our own zone. Three different players had a chance to get control or clear the puck and we could not get it done. We deserved to get scored on in the last minute when we give up the puck like that.

For some reason, this team tanks as a group way to often. I’ve seen a couple players have a bad game, or two, but we have a dozen players who are just so……blah, at times.
It’s like something goes wrong and they are just waiting for the other boot to come crashing down.

Again, no net presence by us at all. Nobody finishing their checks. Too many turnovers and odd-man breaks. Geez, this team is frustrating!! Hang on, Pete, we’ll make the playoffs.

I know that they are flying under the radar, but the Sharks have fallen BELOW the Hawks in the standings. I see Joe Thornton swung his purse and hit Clutterbuck in the head and then ran for cover, in their game. That dude is a “woman on skates”!! The Sharks will NEVER win a Cup with that guy as their captain.

I don’t see us making a trade of any consequence. I’m with Tab on this one, let’s clear out a couple vet’s and call up some young blood, get Toews back, get Monty or Hammer back and see where we go.

Pete, don’t jump! Come on back in and I’ll put Game 6 of the Stanley Cup season in the video and we’ll celebrate all over, again!!

The disputed goal call tonight is just another indication that the stars are not lined up for the Hawks this year. Too many times during the season they’ve surrenendered a goal late / early in a period and its swung momentum. I like Tab’s play on ‘the Departed'; problem is these 3 have little, if any, value in the market. If the kids mentioned are going to come up at some imminent point it will be interesting to see how the roster is manipulated to allow that to happen.
I know there’s been alot of generally favorable buzz about Olsen so far that he’s done OK. That may be true but I’m still not that positive on him; for his size he surely doesn’t use it. He’s almost like Bickell has been all year; bulk and stature but plays much smaller. It hit me tonight during the scrum involving Emery. Olsen was right there in the blue; he didn’t move anyone out and when Emery went after the Duck who was whacking him it was Keith who stepped in to protect Emery with Olsen behind him watching. Maybe he’ll develop more of a physical side but for now its not there. We don’t need another Dman who brings more finesse than physicality.
I also think too many bigger opponents take runs at the smallish Kruger; that’s been frequent throughout the year. Like a bully picking on a small kid; then there’s no payback…ever.
Last thing; whatever happens with the trade deadline I’m hoping that if Bowman makes some moves we don’t move the farm and give away the future.

Pete I agree. As bad as we played there is no way the first goal should have counted and the dive by Selanne was blatantly obvious. We did play poor in this game, but those calls were hard to swallow.

Tab I totally agree. Even if we don’t make a trade Morrison, Brunette and O’Donnell need dropped and bring up Pirri, Morin and Stanton. At this point I’d also cut ties with Frolik and bring up Ben Smith, Andrew Shaw or Olesz.

I could not agree more. Yes this team was “doing well” at the beginning of the season but you could still see that the same exact defensive and special teams problems that were plaguing them at the end of the last season were still present this season. The only saving grace was Crawford’s stellar play that carried the team at the end of last season. When we saw the problems of last season happening again this season, everyone kept saying it was a long season and do not panic. Guess what… we were right.

Obviously the goaltending has been a little weaker this season and the offense cannot find a way to score, so by the time Thanksgiving came around it should have been painfully obvious that the off-season defensive pickups were not working out at all and changes should have been in the works (whether it was with the coaching staff or players) if they were serious about contending. The organization cannot expect to be consistently outshot 2 to 1, physically beat everywhere on the ice, and have no reliable defense yet expect to be a contender. Plenty of cap space was made in the off-season yet the best we could do was bring in again and/or questionable players, then pick up another non-producing player like Morrison?

The team knows what they are capable of with the current roster state, and we are seeing their frustration night in and night out. Not only are the fans frustrated, but they are too. They realize that they needed a only a tweak or two to be a contender this year, but Stan did entirely too much damage to save cap space. I for one do not think there is a blockbuster trade that could help now. Maybe earlier this season it would have helped, but not now. His handling of the team from the offseason until now has not damaged their desire or will… it has just beat them down. They needed help and didn’t get it. They can only do so much and the coaches can only do so much.

Stan got all the credit for winning the Cup (with Dale’s team), so guess what… this is his roster and he is the only one who should be taking the responsibility for its current condition. His gamble failed.

I’m also getting tired of hearing how “dumb” us fans are. Guess what… we make the time to watch the each and every game. We buy the tickets to the games. We are the ones who travel to the away games when possible. We buy the merchandise and cheer for our boys come hell or high water. We will bleed Red and Black forever, so when we have something to say about “our” team, it is done from concern… not stupidity.

Thanks Tom. your right I can’t jump yet. Besides I am going to the game this Wed night against Toronto and I also have tix for the Rangers game. But I can tell you that I went into the same negative psyche that the Hawks did when the league reversed the call and gave Anaheim the goal. I could not get over it and in my mind the game was over at that point. Like when Harbaugh threw that int for a touchdown and Ditka went ballistic. The game was over at that point even though the Bears were up 21-7 when it happened. Also somebody help me on why we didn’t get a powerplay on that stick to emery’s throat after the whistle, instead it was 4 on 4. Am I bitter right now? Yes I am bitter!!! Hopefully Toews and the national anthem can get me and the hawks going on wed night.

The refs calls don’t really matter and didn’t determine the outcome of this game. The Hawks were manhandled for the umpteenth time this season and deserved to lose the game. Sloppy and inconsistent play has been going on all season and is now just exacerbated when Toews isn’t in the lineup to lead this fragile group.

It’s better to have Stan do nothing at this point than risk making things worse. The one thing I think management should do is seriously consider shuting Toews down for the rest of the season to give him as much time as possible to recover from the concussion. If it wasn’t clear that Toews is The Franchise before, it certainly should be now. Let’s do everything possible to be sure he is as ready as can be to start the next season.

to paraphrase from the pension plan puppets vis the leafs: the hawks are not particularly good at hockey this year.

as much as many want the core to remain, i wonder seriously as to whether that’s plausible or even desirable at this point. yes, morrison, brunette, o’donnell, mayers and maybe a few more need to shape up or be shipped out, but would a core move send the message that there is some element of pay for performance going on?

Hey Pete, you’re right about that call – it was not consistent with other calls made by Toronto. Remember the game earlier in the year when the opposing goalie had his glove over the puck in the net? It was called no goal on the ice and went to review. Toronto did not reverse the call on the ice because they could not see the puck, However it was clear the puck was under the glove and the glove was over the line. The answer at that time was they needed clear visual evidence. Well … even though Cagliano probably did hit the puck with his stick – there was no clear visual evidence to support that. So, for the first situation they did not use logic to infer it was a goal, whereas for the situation tonight they did use logic to infer he must have hit the puck with his stick. It shouldn’t be both ways. Toronto was inconsistent with their adjudication and that’s the problem.

Glenn, your exactly right. Im an attorney and I can tell you that they are trying to use the equivalent of accident reconstruction to give them that goal. I guess the physics and velocity of the puck are now being evaluated. The rule is to overturn you need clear visual evidence period. There was no clear visual evidence. And I don’t think Toronto had a better look because the email explanation provided by the league was that in their view emery had stopped the puck and then it went into the net so the only possible explanation was it was hit by a stick. In other words a goal by the process of elimination. We deserved and needed a break on that play and we did not get it.

Since the Cup team, we have lost one franchise player (Campbell) and a bunch of role players. We have not replaced the franchise player at all; and the role players have not been replaced with equal talent. How do you win with a worse team? You don’t. It really is as simple as that.

But how do you replace a franchise guy and a bunch of role players in the next 12 hours? You don’t. So we either limp into the playoffs and hope there is a Disney movie in the making, or we limp down the standings and the boys get to start working on their golf game on April 2.

Enough with the bloody apologists here…people with intelligence deal with what evidence is presented to us, and discount the emotion…take away the emotion as a “fan” and this team, WITHOUT JT, is a sham, and that comment includes COACHES and FRONT OFFICE.

Bowman has put together 2 good drafts. He has signed 1 or 2 decent FAs and made 1 good trade. Beyond that, ON THE ICE, he has failed miserably.

Everyone wants to give Bowman and Q a passing grade for last year due to the Cap situation. Okay, well this is NOT LAST YEAR…both men had all off season to improve this team, in MANY ways, and they simply have not…much of the blame goes to Q and company, as he no longer motivates this team, nor is he able to teach, or coach concepts effectively to the players. He is FAILING as a Head Coach.

But worse is Stan Bowman…he had all last season to figure out and design what this year would look like…he had all last off season to execute said plan. He chose to create an incomplete plan, as he held back salary for both a #2 Centre and a top 4 DMan until the trade deadline…well, we are now less than 14 hours to the trade deadline and he has done ONE THING…that was give away our best DMan in the minors (Brian “never gonna get a shot in Chicago” Connelly) for a failing veteran Centre with a bum knee. Guess what, that deal didn’t pan out.

Stan Bowman is a good Director of Player Personnel, but as a GM he is a TRAIN WRECK…he has now wasted 2 SEASONS in Chicago trying to find the right mix…well, we are almost 2 full seasons in, and we are still nothing without the Captain, we play soft, we are mentally weak, we have the worst combined special teams in the league and have superstars that COAST for weeks on end.

Bowman has 14 hours to grow a sack…either fess up to the team and fans and tell us that he miscalculated the base talent here and now needs to sell to get ready for next year, or AGGRESSIVELY make a MAJOR MOVE to improve this club…and that is not some stupid rental 4th line forward and some 50 year old, stay at cave DMan…he needs to MOVE one of this overpaid and over rated core and add 2 dynamic players to the mix…

And again, for all you Patrick Kane lovers out there…WOW!

Either way Stan, but get off your a$$ and start earning the money that this job pays, and that your Dad got for you. Because what you and coach Q have been doing for 2 YEARS clearly isn’t working.

Listened to 3rd period on the radio, two comments from Troy Murray summed up all that is wrong with this team, after a minute of play, “three turnovers and a lost battle along the boards” and later he watched the replay and counted how many wacks a Duck took at Emery, “one, two…five”, no Hawk reacted! Have watched/listened to the Hawks since the 60’s, suffered with talentless grinder teams, but never have seen a team with such talent but no heart! Coupled with a lame power play, this is coaching and lack of veteran leadership. Outhit, outshot, outhustled, these guys are depressing to watch!

I think the Blackhawks should accept this team will be lucky to be 6th to 8th place and won’t go to far with their team defense, poor offense and lack of hitting and checking. Lets build for the future by unloading old players and payroll ( Crawford, Frolick and Olesz).

I could not agree with you more. If the Blackhawks can get anything for Morrison, Brunette, O’Donnell, Coey Crawford (#2 million ),Michael Frolick($2 million), Bryan Bickell( inconsistent and slow) , Rostislav Olesz($3 million),Ben Smith( too small), Andrew Shaw (too small) they should go for it. Bring up Jeremy Morin at LW, Brandon Pirri at C. When their seasons are over Saad and Kevin Hayes. Bring up Salak to be #2 goalie. ( Emery or someone new as #1)

Still try to get a few players for trades or 4th or 5th round picks like Travis Moen from Montreal who is rebuilding, A goalie from Minnesota who has 3 good ones, Paul Gaustad from Buffalo who is rebuilding. Other solid players might be available from teams trying to rebuild.

For Brad & everyone else that remains on the Fire Quenneville bandwagon: remind me how many teams have won multiple Stanley Cups since 2000. In fact, remind me how many organizations in the Western Conference have qualified for three consecutive postseasons since the lockout. Anyone? Here’s your answer:

If the Blackhawks qualify for a 4th straight year this season, they would join a group of only DET, CGY, SJ, VAN & ANA to accomplish four straight postseasons since the lockout.

So is Quenneville that bad? Really?

The more appropriate response to the last couple seasons is taking stock of what Bowman’s been asked to do, and the rosters that he’s given Quenneville. Last year, the Hawks were up against the cap and had zero flexibility. Did they back into the playoffs? Sure. But that was with significant parts of the regular season being played by names like Boynton and Pisani.

This year, Bowman moved Campbell to open up cap space. The organization clearly has confidence that there is a crop of really good players coming (soon), so he didn’t commit multi-year deals to any of the forwards he brought in. Did that ultimately take the Blackhawks out of the bidding on a guy like Erik Cole, that would have fit better w/ this roster than Brunette? Sure. But that approach also kept Chicago from making mistakes like 4 years on Joel Ward and 5 years on Max Talbot. Hell, they could have given Bryzgalov a decade to be mediocre in net, too, but they didn’t.

The reason I have waited to put the hammer down on Bowman is because there are a couple realities that I have embraced that I hope many of you can at some point as well.

1) Ultimately, we’ll be glad he limited his losses to one year deals this season.
2) Ultimately, we’ll be glad he didn’t make mistakes on guys like Ward and Talbot and Bryzgalov.
3) He has built prospect depth to use in deals & to, down the road (asap) fill the roster with talent
4) The deadline hasn’t passed yet.

This is a salary cap world, folks. It ain’t easy. And with a salary FLOOR, teams like Florida are going to grossly overpay for depth guys we might love to have for less money/years. In the next 13.5 hours, it’s up to Bowman to use some of those prospects and the cap space he created for himself by dealing Campbell and make this roster better so the Hawks can join that short list of Western Conference teams that have qualified for four straight playoffs.

Q after the game interview:
“Stan has been working hard,” coach Joel Quenneville said after the latest defeat. “He’s doing everything he can to try and fill… He’s doing what he can.”
Am I paranoid or he is a major brown nose (job security, maybe)?
Sorry I do know better not to mix politics with greatest sport on earth, but:
The “Fearless Leader” is blaming Bush for all the missteps. I just hope that Stan posses some balls and will not blame Dale for HIS eunuch like moves.

I wouldnt think about much of this all too hard,the organization isn’t worried about this season.If ya cant tell that from these games I dont what to tell you.Say bye to any trades by tomorrow,a deep playoff run and any hope of a good rest of the season.Good bye Bruno,O’Donnell.I think Mayers/Carcillo should stay but there probably gone too.I like Emery but the D is killing them mainly Leddy/Keith.There turnovers and failed assignments are too often.Say hello to Saad Olsen Pirri Shaw Hayes.Frolik is a cancer Krueger needs to score more.Kane should be gone with the A Coaches and Keith.Lepito and Bickell are horrid hope there gone too.I like Hammer and Seabrook.And obviously Sharpie Toews Bolland Hossa and Stalberg are good too.Keep Emery dump Crawford.Kids a head case.

Brad- “Bowman put together two good draft classes”- the jury is still out on that one- sorry Bro!

Looking forward to next year-
Bowman should have around 6 million to play with (assuming 3-5 roster spots are filled by cheap prospects) and no other “significant” deals. Then again he had 6 mill this year….

Tab, what 2 players should be on Bowman’s wish list for around 3 mill each next year?

Those are excellent points Tab, and generally I agree with them…but I think where we differ is giving grace to Bowman and Q over a 2 year period, versus than one season…I didn’t say “boo” last year, as the situation was very difficult for all involved. But year 2 is something different…and while Bowman’s approach was NOT to sign or trade for that 2nd centre and top 4 DMan during the summer, it was to monitor how the team was doing during the season and add what the organization couldn’t help fill…

Well, even when we were playing over .666 hockey, everyone here and around the league was still calling for those 2 spots to be addressed…HE HASN’T…and as John Jaeckel points out, there is no such thing as overpriced and underpriced players…there is only ever market value at any given moment…so to make those 2 moves is going to cost players, picks and prospects…Bowman knew this…he knew it back when it was the summer and he had time to make a deal…now that the deadline is here, he no longer has any great stretch of time…as of now, he has 8 hours…8 hours to decide whether this season was just a tease all along, or 8 hours to get us ready for a long playoff run…and as to the latter, 8 hours is NOT enough time to accomplish this, as 1 player or 1 deal will not magically eradicate the many problems that exist.

That is why at this point, I would take your suggestion and move some unnecessary players and contracts and start preparing for next year…hell, Toews hasn’t even skated since his concussion like issue, and then he crashes his car…that sounds like he won’t be ready to play for awhile…

It’s just that everyone here should know why were are in this predicament, as of Monday morning, February 27th, 2012…and it no longer can be dumped on Dale Tallon…this mess belongs to Bowman, McDonough, and Q…

I still think more could have been done to keep the stanley cup team together. Why couldn’t they have restructered the contracts of Kane and Toews by knocking a million off each for a year and adding more money down the road to the contracts. They were both making a lot of case for endorsements etc. My guess is Toews would have done it to keep the team together and Kane would have had to follow. Wasn’t Byfuglien under contract at a low price for one more year after winning the cup. I hate to go back over all this stuff but the posts are evaluating Bowman so those are my questions?

The good news is that Dale Tallon is still out there. He will be more than happy to pick our pockets again. Say, Keith for Jovanovski? Or Kane for Kopecky? And just think of all the cap space we will free up if we do those deals….

Get rid of leddy…. he’s only in his 2nd year. He doesn’t cost us much… perhaps expectations were too high for this young guy. He is only 2 years out of HS. I think he has the making of a good D-man, someone who will be able to move the puck as well as with his skating. Reminds me of an unpolished Campbell.

Guys…will you all let go of this trade Patrick Kane garbage. He has had bad season and everyone knows he is not a physical prescense on the ice and won’t win you many puck batlles on the boards. He is what he is.

But let me ask you a question.

Let’s pretend he was 6′ 2 and 220 LBS last night. Let’s say he hit everything in sight and was a beast on the ice. With everyone else half assing it out there, would it have mattered?

Trading the likes of Patrick Kane IS THE FRIGGING ANSWER for a team that’s a tough as Donny Osmond…he is supposed to be a leader, but instead of being visible on the ice, he only shows up to call out the Refs after the game!